Your employer also has duties regarding the risk of infection in the company. In order for all of us to get through this time as well as possible, everyone must cooperate. Your employer has a duty of care and protection towards you. This means that he must ensure that risks of illness and dangers to health in the company are as low as possible. There is even a fixed law for this in the third paragraph of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The measures and recommendations depend entirely on the type of business. For example, if you work in a company with a lot of customer contact, there may be a specific obligation to provide disinfectants. In addition, your employer is obliged to instruct you on the hygiene measures and protective precautions to be observed. This means that you must be told how to minimise the risk of infection. For example, you may be instructed to wash your hands regularly. Every employee is then required to follow these measures.
Everyone should protect themselves from infection as much as possible. That is why the government recommends allowing home offices everywhere possible. If employees cannot work from home, concrete measures are important. In these workplaces, the employer must promptly establish health and safety measures.
IG Metall has compiled the most important information on how to proceed: For the safety of employees, "the works council must agree with the employer very quickly on measures to protect against infection with the Corona virus. The method of choice: assess the risk and implement measures in accordance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (ArbSchG)".
The measures must be implemented very quickly because of the immediate risk situation. The costs of all occupational health and safety measures are borne by the employer in accordance with section 3, paragraph 3 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
These are the essential measures for the protection of all:
• Containing the spread through social or physical distance between individuals (at least 1.5 m)
• Compliance with the contact ban adopted by the federal and state governments and, if applicable, with state-specific orders on exit restrictions
• Adherence to hygiene measures such as regular hand washing and coughing into the crook of the elbow
• Correct behaviour in case of suspicion by calling the doctor and the health office
• Carrying out a test in case of clear symptoms as well as in case of contact with infected persons
• Quarantine in case of a positive test for the Corona virus (SARS-CoV-2)
